Category: Massachusetts
Group Works to Connect Portuguese-American Communities
PALCUS
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
April 15, 2009
WASHINGTON—Nearly 20 years after its founding, the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the U.S. is still working to connect Portuguese-American and other communities with Portuguese roots—from Brazil and the Azores, for example—all over the country.
The organization, widely known as PALCUS, lobbies for Portuguese-American issues in Washington and has board members from various regions, including two from the South Coast Region.
“We are in the South Coast region gathering around the community and bringing local organizations together and asking what the issues are,” said Alda Petitti, the organization’s treasurer, who works in New Bedford as an accountant. “We want to bring our resources to them.”
But despite its successes in community outreach, the non-profit organization still faces challenges when trying to connect Portuguese-American communities to each other.
“We are basically trying to be an advocate for the entire community whether you live in Colorado or Fall River; we are trying to be inclusive,” said John Bento of California, the chairman of PALCUS,
The biggest challenge, he said, was trying to be both a national organization and one that represents geographically fragmented communities that have different histories. He said the group also faces the challenge of generational differences.
“PALCUS can do a better job setting up a vision that can work nationally and regionally. There needs to be a diverse but clear agenda that can include more communities,” said Frank Sousa, director of the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Sousa noted that there are more than one million Portuguese-Americans in the country; and that in the South Coast region, 40 percent of the population has Portuguese ancestry.
Manuel Geraldo, PALCUS’s vice chairman, said board members and directors try to look at national issues that may be affecting more then one community in the country. But some issues, he said, affect only some areas, and PALCUS tries to rally politicians to make positive changes in the community.
The organization is currently working to stop the deportation of residents who are not citizens and have been convicted of crimes.
“We are not sure if this is in the best interests of the residents,” Geraldo said. “Most of them are Americans, they know very little about their culture and may not know anyone in the Azores. They may not even speak the language.”
PALCUS has been working to resolve the issue for more than two years, writing letters to officials and arranging meetings with Portuguese embassy officials to discuss possible solutions.
Associate director Paulo Araujo serves as the face of the organization in Washington. “I serve as a link between the community and the board as well as the U.S. and the Portuguese government,” he said.
Members of the organization’s executive committee and the board come from places with large concentrations of Portuguese-Americans, including California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Odete Amarelo of Fall River is on the board and has been working with PALCUS since 1994. She said she acts as a resource for the South Coast community that may have issues to bring to the main office.
“I try to look at issues at the national level but focus on local issues and see how I can participate,” she said.
Amarelo, a native of the Azores, worked for the Fall River school system for more than three decades advocating for children who do not speak English. She recently retired and now teaches Portuguese at Bristol Community College.
Recently Amarelo and Petitti have been busy working on the deportation issue and just finished obtaining federal funds for a Portuguese language program at Rhode Island College.
President Bush had vetoed the bill authorizing money for the program, but after PALCUS rallied support within the community and brought the issue up with politicians in Washington the program received the funds
Preservation of Portuguese culture is a priority for PALCUS.
“One of our missions is to educate people about culture and language as well as creating education opportunities in communities,” Geraldo said
Geraldo has been part of PALCUS since 1994 and said he is proud of the time and effort he puts into his work with Portuguese-American communities. His father, who migrated from Portugal at the age of 21, came from a farming town and moved to the United States to get an education.
PALCUS has a college internship program that places college students of Portuguese descent in the offices of members of Congress, the U.S. embassy in Lisbon and various government agencies. Interns are provided with a stipend.
PALCUS chairman Bento said that one of the organization’s current initiatives is setting up branches or the organization at the college level.
Recognizing the achievements of prominent Portuguese-Americans is also a priority for board members and directors.
“It’s a way for people from different communities all over the country to connect. It enables people who want to share successes to do so and it allows Portuguese-Americans to be honored on a national and local level,” Petitti said.
Each year PALCUS hosts a fund-raising gala to honor Portuguese-Americans. Past honorees include television broadcaster Meredith Viera and singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado.
“It’s important because we don’t always give ourselves the credit we deserve,” Bento said. “We want to set up a link to prominent Americans. Most people don’t know that Tom Hanks is half Portuguese. ”
Meanwhile, PALCUS has been having a series of mixers aimed at creating networking opportunities with fellow Portuguese-Americans.
Board members say they are confident that PALCUS will continue to grow and become an even better advocate because it does more than just talk about problems.
“I have seen a lot of Portuguese organizations,” Bento said, “and all they do is talk. When I saw PALCUS I thought, now here’s an organization that’s actually doing things, not just talking.”
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Worcestor Native Leaves Marks on Washington as Major General
GENERAL
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
04/10/09
WASHINGTON – The president and the general shared a brief exchange moments after laying a wreath with two elderly Medal of Honor recipients at the foot of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. But that was not the highlight of the day for Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe Jr.
Earlier, the Army general, a Worcester native, had signed the promotion application of a young soldier. She had recently completed a bachelor’s degree in biology while on active duty, but her heart was set on driving the president’s limousine, a job that required the rank of sergeant.
Gen. Rowe took out one of his personalized notes, embellished with the two stars of his rank, he recalled, and wrote, “Best wishes for success.”
It is people like the young woman who wants to be a sergeant instead of a biologist who most impress the general—people who, like himself, serve their country not because it is their only choice, but because they feel compelled to military service.
“What a great candidate to become an officer,” Gen. Rowe said of the sergeant-to-be. “She doesn’t have to be. But it’s an option that’s available and it’s a challenge she wants to pick up.”
As the commander of Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, which he has been since 2007, Gen. Rowe is responsible for the safety of Washington. He sits on local emergency response boards and oversees military operations. If the capital should ever come under attack, he would be in charge of its defense.
His ceremonial duties include participating in medal ceremonies and funerals of fallen soldiers. He is also escort to the president—on Inauguration Day, he got a kiss on the cheek from Michelle Obama while walking the First Family down the Capitol steps to the stage.
Gen. Rowe did not become a soldier for the power and the glory—although his father is a World War II veteran and his ancestors fought under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. He had other options after graduating from St. Lawrence University in upstate New York with an economics degree and later earning a master’s degree in business from Boston University while stationed in Germany. Gen. Rowe does what he does by free will.
His military career, 40 years this summer, is a mix of abroad and homeland assignments—including three tours to Korea and homeland commanding positions—that set an example of the lesson with which his conversations with young soldiers often culminate: America is a land of choice; what are your options?
Gen. Rowe, born in Worcester on Aug. 30, 1951, and raised in Franklin and Cheshire, recounted another meeting with a young soldier standing guard at the edge of a ceremony at Arlington Cemetery. The general strolled over after it was over, said hello, and asked how things were going. Then he got to the nut of the conversation.
“I told him, ‘What are you doing, you should be in college,’ ” Gen. Rowe recalled. “He said he’d been in college—graduated in three years, tests off the walls. But he wants to be an officer, he said, and he wanted to do it by going through infantry.”
Gen. Rowe said he never expected to be where he is today, a high-profile homeland security officer, saluting the president at his inauguration, making frequent public appearances and knowing everyone.
Despite the confidence in his voice and crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiles and the ease with which he holds conversations, his duties require an aptitude for socialization that the major general says does not come naturally to him.
“I’m an introvert,” he said. “When I’m on my own, I’ll sit in a corner with a book,” mostly biographies and military tactics, usually more than one at a time. At home after a long day, he sits quietly with a newspaper or book or talks with his wife, Dale, about the people he met.
He says his people skills are learned and practiced, like any other military skill. He talks to everyone. He can recall in great detail the burdens and business of each conversation.
While making the rounds through Fort Myer a few weeks ago, he stopped to chat with a military police company commander. “She was telling me she had a new lieutenant arrive yesterday and another one coming in a couple of weeks and she was excited because she was going to get to do leadership development…. These are lieutenants who graduated from college last spring, now they’re coming to their first unit, and for a captain who’s already been through this, it’s pretty exciting…. I would have liked to have been a lieutenant coming to that company.”
What he and his soldiers do in Washington is incredibly important, he said, and perhaps even underrated. It is one thing to learn how to be social. But the invaluable leadership skills needed for the job he learned in Korea, where he has been deployed three times.
“The best job I ever had,” Gen. Rowe said, was as an infantry battalion commander in Korea during the 1990s. He called it “the one which in terms of growing as an Army officer really was a culminating point.”
His previous assignments include joint plans officer for Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and assistant division commander of operations for the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. He has previously been stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas and Fort Stewart in Georgia, and most recently held commanding positions at Fort Monroe, Va., and Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
In Korea, he commanded more than 800 soldiers, he said. Many of his officers have been promoted to colonel and his enlisted men and women to sergeant, but he keeps the memory of all of them—even those he hasn’t heard from in years—close.
“Those were all my units,” he said, pointing out a frame hanging in his office at Fort McNair. Tanks, intelligence, air defense, infantry companies, and 100 Korean soldiers are each represented by a flag the size of a business card. The small flags are behind him as he describes the challenges of the job—train and communicate with the soldiers, demystify the Korean terrain, decide, decide, decide.
“You’re really in charge,” he said. “What that battalion does well and doesn’t, you and your people make happen. You own it.”
Gen. Rowe has received many medals and distinctions—Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Expert Infantryman Badge, Master Parachutist Badge and Ranger Tab, to name a few. But it was the lessons about leadership he learned from his troops in Korea that have helped him accomplish his tasks as a general.
“Lord knows how they picked me to be here. I thought to be in this unit you had to be tall and you had to be a good marcher,” the major general said, jokingly.
The soldiers now under his command cite Gen. Rowe’s personal support for his unit.
“You can’t separate the personal from the professional in the Army,” Col. Daniel Baggio, the general’s press secretary, said of his boss. “Our family members and the support you get from them correlates to the professional side, and you can see that in him. You can see the values he was raised with—he wears it on his sleeve.”
The oldest of 10 children, Gen. Rowe spent four years at boarding school in New Hampshire before enrolling in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at St. Lawrence University.
His father has devoted his life to education—first as a college professor in Massachusetts, then at local and federal departments of higher education. He later returned to teaching at Montgomery College in suburban Washington, where, after celebrating his 85th birthday a few weeks ago, he still works as an adjunct business professor.
“My dad is my mentor,” Gen. Rowe said. So when his dad suggested ROTC, he complied.
The general has four daughters, one who recently took her ROTC entrance exam at Clark University and one who returned from Iraq in February.
“He’s very hard-working and expects the same from other people,” Army 1st Lt. Natalie Rowe, 24, said of her father.
But, she said, “He’s the same everywhere.” If she were to place second in a race, her father might gibe that she was the second-place loser, said Lt. Rowe, who had delayed an afternoon run to talk about her father, also a runner.
Gen. Rowe is, of course, proud of Lt. Rowe—he said he thought of her, in Iraq, as he participated in the inauguration ceremony—but he is proud of all his children.
His other two daughters, Hannah French and Therese Van Antwerp, decided against a military career. Hannah, a school teacher in Lynn, “took one look and decided, ‘This isn’t for me,’” Gen. Rowe said. “I’m supportive. I’m a cheerleader.”
On March 25, Gen. Rowe was at the National Medal of Honor Day ceremony, where he displayed another kind of support and respect for the service. President Obama was descending the marble steps to the wreath propped up before the Tomb of the Unknowns. Gen. Rowe was holding on tight to the crook of the arm of an elderly Medal of Honor recipient. They did not miss a step.
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Local Congressmen Post Earmarks on Their Websites
POSTING
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
04/09/09
WASHINGTON – Local congressmen reported more than $647 million in 2010 budget earmark requests on their Web sites, in accordance with a House Appropriations Committee reform to enhance transparency.
Since 2007, a list of earmarks and which members requested them has been posted online before a bill is passed. But this is the first time members have been required to independently post on their own Web sites a list of the earmarks they have requested in the proposed spending bills. Not all requested earmarks will be included in the final versions of the bills.
In an effort to improve transparency, the committee requested that members’ lists include the name and address of the organization for which funding has been requested, the amount of money requested and a brief description of the project.
“Certainly this is a significant step forward,” said Steve Ellis, the vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group that has been tracking Congress’ compliance with the new rule.
But, he said, “Having it located on 400 or 500 Web sites—in a variety of locations, in a variety of Web sites—is not the most efficient and effective way to achieve transparency.”
The appropriations earmark lists posted many House members take the form of Internet buried treasure, which require sifting through various pages and subpages to get to the numbers, and as of April 8, many had neglected to post their projects at all.
But U.S. Reps. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, John W. Olver, D-Amherst, and Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, posted links to their budget earmark proposals on their homepages. They say they have nothing to hide; in fact, they are proud of their earmarks.
“For me, it’s very simple—I’m proud of the work I do for my constituents,” said Mr. McGovern, who has requested 55 earmarks worth more than $400 million. “If I can make it easier for them to know what I’m doing, all the better.”
Mr. McGovern’s earmarks can be perused from a menu listed under the “Appropriations” tab on his Web site’s homepage. According to his Web site, Mr. McGovern requested the 55 projects, including $800,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, $2 million for CellTech Power, a Westborough-based company, to improve coal fuel efficiency, and $100 million for Boston-Power Inc., which plans to open a plant in Westborough to manufacture lithium-ion batteries needed by the Defense Department.
“It wasn’t that I just drew projects out of a hat,” Mr. McGovern said. He said his project list is the product of long discussions between him, local politicians, business leaders and community groups.
Mr. Olver’s 64 earmarks are listed alphabetically in one press release posted front and center on his homepage. There is no point in hiding the fact that he has requested $76 million for his district, Mr. Olver said.
“Earmarks give me an opportunity to help make a difference,” he said, “to directly address the needs I see in our community.”
Among Mr. Olver’s projects, which he described as “solid investments,” is funding for the Leominster branch of Fosta-Tek Optics to develop low-cost combat optics for use in the Middle East ($1.5 million), Mount Wachusett Community College to erect a wind turbine ($1 million), and the Orange Police Department to begin a civilian watch program ($622,000).
Mr. Neal requested about $82 million in budget earmarks, which are listed on his Web site under the link, “Appropriations Priorities.”
William Tranghese, Mr. Neal’s press secretary, said in an email that it is Mr. Neal’s belief “that this significant reform measure will bring increased scrutiny and accountability to the appropriations process.”
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Rep. Frank’s Earmark Requests for Local Projects Total $40 Million
Earmarks
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
04/09/09
WASHINGTON—Rep. Barney Frank has requested more than $40 million in earmarks for local projects to be included in next year’s spending bills.
“Most of them are for economic development and creation of jobs for companies that are hiring in the south coast,” Frank said of the projects he has proposed for funding in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills.
The earmarks, disclosed in detail on Frank’s Web site, are for state and local projects, non-profits and for companies that do business in the 4th Congressional District.
The biggest-ticket item in the list of 24 requests is $7 million for the Muddy River restoration project. Mike Keegan, the project’s manager, said the flood-prevention project consists of three phases and will cost an estimated $80 million when completed. The work, being done by the Army Corps of Engineers, started in 2005.
Among the private companies that could receive funds is New Bedford-based software developer International Compliance Systems. The company could get $3.2 million to expand its mishap reduction system, which identifies potential risks for accidents in the military.
“It identifies where there are precursors and puts together action plans and tools,” said Steven Hemingway, the company’s president and owner. He said the money would help expand the system throughout the Department of Defense.
The Taunton Nursing Home could get a $1.5 million boost for renovations. The nursing home is looking to update the air conditioning system and to build a new kitchen.
“The support we get from the congressman is marvelous,” said John Brennan, the nursing home’s administrator. “The seniors who live here, they know this guy. He’s no stranger to the Taunton Nursing Home.”
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth could get up to $6 million, including $1 million for the Marine Renewable Energy Center. The university’s School for Marine Science and Technology would get $3 million for a fishery multi-species survey and $2 million for a scallop fishery assessment project.
“The purpose of the Renewable Energy Center is to aid in the development of ocean-based renewable energy,” said John Miller, the center’s director.
Other earmarks disclosed by the congressman include $4.9 million for Bristol County sewers, $2.5 million for electric drive train research, which would help extend the range of electric vehicles being developed by Vectrix Corp., and $1.5 million for a Mill River habitat restoration project.
Congress will work on the spending bills in the coming months and would be expected to pass them by Oct. 1, the beginning of the 2010 fiscal year. Not all of the requested earmarks are expected to be included in the final bills, according to the congressman’s Web site.
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Trucking Industry Opposes McGovern Bill That Would Limit Truck Size
TRUCKS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
04/02/09
WASHINGTON – As the trucking industry seeks to loosen weight regulations for trucks traveling on the nation’s highways, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Worcester) and U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce legislation that would cap truck weight and size. They say limits are necessary to minimize road damage and decrease truck-involved traffic fatalities.
Truckers are pushing to increase the weight limit from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds. The move could reduce truck carbon emissions by as much as 17 percent, according to Clayton W. Boyce, a spokesman for American Trucking Associations, by carrying heavier loads in fewer vehicles.
But lawmakers argue that heavier trucks will only exacerbate the problem of crumbling infrastructure and pose a greater risk to drivers. They argue that limiting truck weight will result in fewer accidents because, they say, heavier trucks take longer to stop.
“We’re not going to be able to go backwards on this, but what we can do is stop where we are so it doesn’t get worse,” Mr. McGovern said.
More than 200 of the 1,446 truck crashes (fatal and nonfatal) in Massachusetts occurred in Worcester County, more than every other county except Middlesex, in 2007, the most recent year for which records are available, according to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The safety administration recorded 26 fatal accidents in Massachusetts involving large trucks in 2007, four of which occurred in Worcester County.
“Generally, tractor-trailer accidents involve fatalities,” said Sgt. James Machado of the Fall River police department, who is the executive director of the Massachusetts Police Association. “Even when they’re involved with nothing but guardrails.”
In two-vehicle crashes involving a passenger car and a large truck, 97 percent of the fatalities were occupants of the passenger vehicle, according to a 2007 study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
On March 20, an 88-year-old Marlboro woman was killed and her husband injured when their car collided with a tractor-trailer on Route 20 in Northboro.
“It’s not only a matter of public safety,” Mr. Machado said. “It’s also a matter of making sure we’re not doing anything counterproductive to the amount of money we’re putting into fixing infrastructure.”
In Massachusetts, the problem is twofold, Mr. McGovern said. Massachusetts roads are infamously in need of repair—“We have bridges that are older than most states in this country,” the congressman pointed out—which is why, he said, it is imperative to preserve them as much as possible by limiting the damage done by heavy trucks.
Gov. Deval Patrick has committed $600 million to repair roads and bridges this year. An additional $3 billion has been put aside for a program that would repair or replace as many as 300 of the commonwealth’s 532 structurally deficient bridges over the next eight years.
Massachusetts received an additional $437.9 million from the new federal stimulus law to spend on federal highway projects.
A number of factors contribute to road deterioration, including weather, chemicals, traffic—and weight of the vehicles, according to Adam Hurtubise, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation in Massachusetts.
“The higher the traffic volume and the heavier the vehicle, the more quickly the roadway tends to deteriorate,” Mr. Hurtubise said.
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House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Illegal Immigration
Immigration
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
04/02/09
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers and immigration enforcement agencies agreed Thursday that deportation of criminal illegal aliens should be a priority. But they disagreed about some of the administration’s policy choices.
The agreement was expressed during a hearing by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
“Last year we directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] to use $1 billion of its resources to identify and remove aliens convicted of crimes, whether in custody or at large,” said subcommittee chairman David Price, D-N.C. “I believe in the wisdom of this course and want to know how the ICE plans to make more progress.”
Price said that even though immigration enforcement agencies had achieved relative success, more had to be done to deport aliens who have committed criminal offenses. He said ICE, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, has increased non-criminal deportations by 400 percent since 2002 but criminal deportations by only 60 percent.
“Secretary [Janet] Napolitano has made the identification and removal of criminal aliens a top priority for ICE,” said David Venturella, executive director of Secure Communities, an ICE program intended to enhance federal-local cooperation in detaining and deporting immigrants with criminal records. “We are focusing on improving information sharing to more quickly identify criminal aliens.”
Venturella said it was difficult to identify all criminal aliens because of the excessive speed at which criminals are processed in local and state prisons. Price agreed, saying that only 14 percent of criminals in local prisons are screened, compared with 100 percent of inmates screened at state prisons.
Workforce enforcement efforts have been aided by the department’s E-Verify, an electronic screening system that immigration officials said identifies workers who are not legally allowed to work in the country. The officials said they want to continue to work on the accuracy and fairness of the system. There are currently 63,592 companies enrolled in E-Verify.
Rep. Harold Rogers., R-Ky., praised the E-Verify efforts but warned that making the deportation of criminal aliens a priority should not interfere with the task of deporting non-criminal aliens. He called the emphasis on deporting criminal aliens a “poorly veiled proxy for immigration reform.”
He pointed to reports that ICE has released 28 confirmed illegal immigrants who were arrested during a raid in northwest Washington and has given 24 of them work permits.
“Recent calls from the administration and others to re-prioritize, apply greater scrutiny and redirect valuable ICE resources toward criminal alien investigations come at the detriment of other critical functions,” Rogers said.
But Venturella said the attempt to establish new priorities has not hindered other efforts to combat illegal immigration. “We have added agents—border patrol agents; it has not diminished our efforts on catching and releasing [returning to their home countries] illegal immigrants.”
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Dartmouth High Students Visit Capitol to Lobby for Human Rights
DARTMOUTH HIGH
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/26/09
WASHINGTON—Twelve Dartmouth High School students woke up at the crack of dawn Wednesday to catch a flight to Washington for a whirlwind one-day trip to Capitol Hill. Their mission was to petition government officials to take action in the Darfur-Sudan human rights crisis.
The students, members of the Amnesty International club at Dartmouth High School, were invited by Rep. James McGovern, D-3, to attend a human rights hearing sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
“We want to learn about our government and get the word out there that student groups care about international issues like Darfur,” said Phil Krause, a senior and the club’s vice president.
Students visited the Amnesty International offices in Washington and the office of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., where they met with Dylan Gottfried, Kerry’s aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Today’s trip was really cool,” sophomore Chloe Gilligan said. “This trip was different. We talked to the Amnesty International people about how they became involved in human aid work. John Kerry’s office aide was well informed. He knew what he was talking about.”
Rep. McGovern, the co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, invited the students to sit in on the hearing, which concerned the dangers facing journalists and human rights advocates in Colombia.
“We admire that you are here. It’s an inspiration,” McGovern said in acknowledging the students during the hearing. “I’m glad they are going to get a chance to learn more about the issues in Colombia.”
“It was completely shocking and moving. I had no idea those things were happening in Colombia,” junior Chloe Bernert said.
Bernert, like the other students, is interested in international relations and said she hopes to return to Washington as a college student at Georgetown University.
“Darfur has been one of my main focuses for a very long time,” Bernert said. “The younger you learn about issues the better; if you know what’s going on you will be more willing to try to enact change.”
Amnesty International, which campaigns for human rights, has 2.2 million members worldwide. The club at Dartmouth High School was formed in 2003, shortly after the start of the war with Iraq.
“Students were upset, and they wanted to get involved,” said Ben Kahrl, social studies department chairman and adviser to the club. “I told them they could start an Amnesty International club.”
The club has blossomed from 8 members to about 60, Kahrl said. Each school year students pick two international human rights issues to focus on. This year they are working to raise awareness of the Darfur-Sudan crisis and discrimination against women.
During the school year they meet twice a month to write petition letters and organize events designed to educate the student body about human rights issues, the students said.
Club members each year make two trips to Washington to lobby the government on the issues they are working on.
“It’s important to teach kids how to exercise their rights to petition. Almost in no other country in the world do people have as much access to people in power,” Kahrl said. “It’s important for them to sense that they have a voice, a powerful voice. Just the fact that we can come down here and see the federal government is extraordinary.”
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Local Congressmen Vote in Favor of Tax on AIG Bonuses
TAX
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
03/19/09
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives voted Thursday to take back almost all of the money firms aided by the Troubled Assets Relief Program paid out as bonuses to employees, a measure local congressmen say is necessary to quell an infuriating situation.
The bill came as a response to public outcry over $165 million in bonuses TARP recipient American International Group gave to executives, many of whom are considered responsible for shaking the insurer’s stability.
The House voted 328-93 to enforce a 90 percent tax on the bonus paid by AIG and any other company that received more than $5 billion of taxpayer aid.
“Basically what we did today amounts to a big two by four that we’re slamming against the back of their heads,” said Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, who was incredulous that taxpayer money had been used so frivolously.
During debate Thursday, Mr. McGovern expressed on behalf of taxpayers the frustration that money paid with faith it would be put toward fixing a financial problem was squandered for the personal profit of those who played a role in the economy’s downward spiral.
“Those employees made bad bets, and now the American people are paying the tab,” said Mr. McGovern, who described the bonuses as “outrageous.”
Public anger has largely focused on AIG, but the tax would be applicable to bonuses paid by any company that received at least $5 billion in bailout aid.
“Their abusive behavior clearly demonstrates how out of touch they are with the rest of America,” Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said in a statement. “While hard working men and women are struggling with the current economic crisis, these greedy executives are rewarding themselves with unjustified compensation.”
Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of AIG told Congress Wednesday that he had asked bonus recipients to return the money.
“That’s fabulous,” Mr. McGovern said. “But we can’t rely on their good hearted generosity.”
He said the bill is necessary to ensure taxpayer money is retrieved.
Only six Democrats voted against the bill and the Republican vote was split nearly in half, with 85 voting in favor, 87 against.
“They’re hearing what we’re hearing,” Mr. McGovern said of his Republican colleagues. “Fix this problem. We don’t want this to happen again.”
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Coast Guard Supports Bill That Would Crack Down on Illegal Fishing
Fishing
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/19/09
WASHINGTON—A bill that would help prevent depletion of dwindling stocks of fish by strengthening enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing was endorsed Thursday by an industry group and the Coast Guard, which would be charged with enforcing its provisions.
Their testimony came at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing.
“Unsustainable fishing practices by foreign fishing fleets adversely affect stocks that migrate” between the high seas and U.S. waters, said Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, who introduced the legislation last month.
Bordallo called fishermen taking part in illegal fishing “free riders who benefit unfairly from the sacrifices made by the U.S. fishermen and others for the sake of proper fisheries conservation and management.”
Fishermen in the United States are subject to multiple layers of regulation but foreign competitors are often not subject to the same rules, said Bordallo, who is chairwoman of the Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee that held the hearing on the bill.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has an annual value of $10 billion, Bordallo said. More than 70 percent of global marine fish stocks are depleted or exploited, she said.
“For our business to remain economically viable, fishing activities must be sustainable,” said Stetson Tinkham, director of international affairs for the National Fisheries Institute, an industry trade group. “Science-based quotas for individual species or for species complexes must be established and those catch levels should not be exceeded. Catches must be recorded and reported. In short; fisherman should follow the rules,”
The legislation would allow U.S. officials to take actions against countries that don’t have strict regulations. Penalties for violation of the rules could lead to a ban on imports. The bill also would require that a list of vessels engaged in illegal fishing activities be kept and that appropriate action be taken against the vessels.
The legislation would strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 30-year-old law that was updated in 2006. The act uses market-based incentives to replenish stocks and enforce fishing laws.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara said the Coast Guard was ready to take on the challenge and approved of the provisions in the bill to toughen enforcement. Currently the Coast Guard is largely responsible for enforcing fishing laws.
“In the face of an increasing need for food security and the increasing scarcity of marine resources,” she said, the Coast Guard is ready to work to preserve fish stocks around the world.
Bordallo said she hopes to get the bill to the House floor this spring.
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Energy Efficient Insulation Industry Would Benefit From Earmark
ASPEN
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
March 7, 2009
WASHINGTON – Insulation made in Northborough can be found wrapped around a natural gas pipeline deep in the ocean off the coast of Brazil, packed around the electrical cables beneath the subway system in Beijing, and layered over the oil tank of a tractor in the French countryside.
“There is insulation everywhere—in aircraft, in homes, in appliances—you name it,” said Sara Rosenberg, director of government and strategic planning for insulation manufacturer Aspen Aerogels.
“Everywhere” is exactly where the company, headquartered in Northborough, wants to be. Since Aspen Aerogels was formed in 2001, its products have had “relatively exotic” uses, according to Don Young, the company’s chief executive officer. But with energy conservation in the national spotlight and strapped-for-cash homeowners looking to save, now Aspen Aerogels would like to expand the use of its insulation in residential and commercial buildings.
The building and contracting industry is a goldmine of a market that, if tapped, could increase Aspen’s client base tenfold, Mr. Young said. Problem is, at $2 per square foot, the 10 millimeter thick aerogel used by home and commercial contractors is just too expensive.
But a $1.5 million federal government earmark could change that. Mr. Young said the company would use the money, which is in the government spending bill passed by the House last month, to find more efficient and effective ways to manufacture its insulation.
In order to compete with conventional insulation, Mr. Young estimated the company would have to slash the cost of aerogel insulation by at least a quarter, maybe even a third. Aerogel is a flexible, silica-based insulation with the appearance of thick felt and the power to absorb up to eight times as much heat as conventional thermal insulation, according to the company’s Web site.
Affordable energy efficient insulation has national appeal, but in central Massachusetts, the benefits extend past the environmental conscience. A thriving green business in Worcester County could stimulate green practices and attract new green businesses to the area.
“I've talked a lot about creating green jobs, finding ways to encourage smart conservation and this fulfills both those goals,” said U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, who introduced the earmark in the fiscal year 2009 spending bill that would fund the government through Sept. 30. The bill, passed by the House Feb. 25, has not been passed by the Senate.
Aspen intends to invest the money in what Mr. Young calls fluid flow optimization—tinkering with the chemical combinations, pressure levels and pipe system involved in manufacturing aerogel insulation. Perfecting solution gelation, as Mr. Young describes the chemical-melding process, will result in significant production cost savings, he said.
“This grant will help us understand our process better” and improve its efficiency, Mr. Young said.
To install Aerogel insulation in an 800-square-foot apartment would cost about $2,000, and could save about $450 per year in energy costs, Mr. Young said.
Bob Levesque, the owner of Bob’s Insulation in Sutton, estimated that if he were to insulate the same apartment with a fiberglass material, it would cost about $600, including installation costs. His fiberglass insulation, a common household insulator, costs 72 cents per square foot, he said.
But investing in energy efficient technology can be well-worth the cost, according to Julie Jacobson, assistant city manager of Worcester.
“If it could have a residential application as well as a commercial application, that’s definitely something the city and any developer should be encouraged to use,” she said.
Last year, the city spent $800,000 on a dozen energy efficient lighting and waste disposal projects and saved $330,000 in energy costs, she said.
Building and home insulation is another energy-saving measure the city is looking into. She, like Mr. McGovern, said she hopes small energy-saving steps will snowball to a greener Worcester.
“It’s not just what we can do to save money,” Ms. Jacobson said. “It’s how we can grow and expand the industry.”
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